Tuesday’s roster cutdowns manifested themselves in a strange fashion. After the final cuts came in, it would be easy to have questions. Why isn’t there a long snapper? Is it really wise to cut Ameer Abdullah? Wait, does that say Everson Griffen?!
It would be extremely difficult to justify keeping someone like Jalyn Holmes over Griffen. As a starter, Holmes only notched three pressures in 57 pass-rushing snaps and just 19 pressures over the whole 2020 season. Griffen managed a sack and a pressure in just four pass rushes during the preseason, and his reputation obviously precedes him.
Every team pulled some wacky tricks on cutdown day, relying on waiver claims and post-cutdown dynamics to re-calibrate the roster later. The New England Patriots only had one quarterback, Mac Jones, on their initial 53-man roster. The Detroit Lions didn’t roster any kickers. The Chicago Bears only kept four corners. The Vikings rostered nary a long snapper nor a true backup quarterback (Kellen Mond doesn’t count). Obviously, this will all shake out to be something more normal in time.
But what is the purpose of all this? After all, Everson Griffen, Andrew DePaola, Ameer Abdullah, and more are vested veterans. That means they don’t process through waivers and hit the market immediately. If another team were so motivated, they could call up Everson Griffen right now, offer him $2 million, and Griffen would be well within his rights to take them up on it.
However, there are a couple of changes this offseason that influence all this weirdness. First, the lack of a fourth preseason game makes for a longer gap between roster cuts and meaningful football. Instead of having practice tomorrow to prepare for the Cincinnati Bengals, the Vikings have a week to shuffle guys in and out of the building. Second, the large 16-player practice squad changes some dynamics. And third, the way injured reserve and physically unable to perform list work these days allow for extra flexibility.
So how can the Vikings both release Everson Griffen but also want to bring him back?
They are trying to artificially expand their roster beyond 53 players. Imagine if you could keep four or five players that were almost worth a roster spot on the practice squad without fear of another team poaching them. This is ostensibly the goal. So some players that made the team, like Jalyn Holmes, James Lynch, Ryan Connelly, or Josh Metellus, may have only made the team for now.
To explain, we have to explain the concept of a “vested veteran.” That’s a fancy name for a player with four accrued seasons (seasons where they played in six or more games) under their belt. The rules get a little different once you’ve played that much. Most importantly, you don’t have to go through the entire process of waivers before you can comfortably sign with any of the 32 teams, including the one that released you.
Let’s say the Vikings want Griffen on the roster, but they also want James Lynch, who is not a vested veteran, on the practice squad. Let’s say that, additionally, they heard of another team that is interested in Lynch on their 53-man roster. If they simply released Lynch, he’d be subject to waivers, and the poaching team could take him. Since we know Griffen doesn’t have much in terms of a market — he was a free agent until a week and a half ago — he’s a safer cut for now.
With Everson as a free agent but reassured that he’ll rejoin the team shortly, we wait for the initial waiver frenzy to play out. That other team will claim someone else’s defensive tackle, and with a safer market, we can switch Griffen back onto the team and waive Lynch afterward. He’s still subject to poaching throughout the season, but we can at least “skip” the initial waiver frenzy and hope for a deeper practice squad.
None of this is to say Lynch is actually going to get cut, but someone will, as DePaola, Griffen, and likely Abdullah will re-join the Vikings. Those three contracts have a perfect confluence of traits: they’re one-year deals (so no dead money accelerates), they’re vested veterans, and they have all lasted on the open market with nobody clamoring for their services. Nothing is stopping another team from proving the Vikings wrong on that, though. That’s the risk they’re choosing to take.
So don’t panic. The Vikings didn’t necessarily “choose” Everson Griffen over Jalyn Holmes. They may not have chosen Jalyn Holmes at all. The Vikings will have a few roster spots open up naturally. Kene Nwangwu will be put on short-term IR, and Irv Smith will likely join him. They could use this time to swing a trade for one of their many extra edge rushers or defensive tackles. By Wednesday or Thursday, we’ll see a closer roster to the one that will travel to Cincinnati to play Week 1. For now, we should just let the Vikings try to abuse quirks of the process to gain an edge.
